A ancient hominid, dubbed Homo nalediNew discoveries suggest that controlled fires may have been lit in the dark caves underground, suggesting that this could be how they started.
Researchers found Small fireplaces are still visible, as well as sooty ceiling and wall smudges. in passages and chambers throughout South Africa’s Rising Star cave complex, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger announced in a December 1 lecture hosted by the Carnegie Institution of Science in Washington, D.C.
“Signs of fire use are everywhere in this cave system,” said Berger, of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
H. nalediAccording to the team, this person probably lit the flames in the caves as there are no evidence of any other hominids. However, the researchers are yet to date the age the fire has blazed. And researchers outside Berger’s group have yet to evaluate the new finds.
H. naledi fossils date to Between 335,000 and 236,000 years old (SN: 5/9/17), Around the time Homo sapiensOrigin (SN: 6/7/17). Researchers suspect that hominids were using fire to provide light, warmth, and cooking. Around 400,000 years ago, the first recorded human habitations were made. (SN: 4/2/12).
These behaviors have not been attributed. H. nalediThis was due to the small size of its brain. But it’s now clear that a brain roughly one-third the size of human brains today still enabled H. nalediBerger believes that it is possible to control fire.
Berger went down a narrow shaft last August to examine two underground chambers. H. nalediFossils had been discovered. Berger noticed thin rock sheets and stalactites that had partially grown on top of older ceiling surfaces. Berger stated that the surfaces were blackened and burned, with soot particles scattered throughout.
Keneiloe Molopyane, expedition codirector and Wits paleoanthropologist, led excavations in a nearby cave chamber. The researchers found two small fireplaces with charred wood and burnt bones of antelopes, among other things. The remains of a fireplace and burned bones from nearby animals were then found in a deeper cave chamber. H. nalediFossils have been discovered.
The main challenge for investigators is to date the burnt wood, bones, or other fire remains from Rising Star chambers. They will also need to demonstrate that the fireplaces are made of the same sediment layers. H. naledi fossils, says paleoanthropologist W. Andrew Barr of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who wasn’t involved in the work.
“That’s an absolutely critical first step before it will be possible to speculate about who may have made fires for what reason,” Barr says.
